PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers in the National Assembly have unanimously approved legislation to formally eliminate a centuries-old slavery regulation that remained buried in the country’s legal code.
The chamber voted 254-0 on Thursday to pass the measure removing Code Noir from French law, sending the proposal to the Senate where backers anticipate approval. The timing of the upper chamber’s vote remains uncertain.
King Louis XIV enacted Code Noir — known as Black Code — at Versailles Palace in 1685 to establish regulations governing enslaved people throughout France’s colonial territories.
French philosopher Louis Sala‑Molins characterized it as “the most monstrous legal text of modern times.”
The law’s 60 provisions initially applied to French Caribbean territories including Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue, which is now Haiti, before expanding to cover French Guiana, Louisiana, and the Indian Ocean territories of Réunion and Mauritius.
Historical records show France transported approximately 1.4 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, ranking third among European nations in the slave trade behind Portugal and Britain.
The majority labored in sugar cane fields and processing facilities where syrup was cooked over open flames, along with coffee, cotton and indigo production.
Conditions proved so lethal that mortality rates exceeded births, leading plantation owners to continuously import new groups of enslaved Africans to replace those who died.
By 1789, Saint-Domingue — present-day Haiti — contained approximately 500,000 enslaved individuals, surpassing all other Caribbean colonies. The territory generated much of the globe’s sugar and coffee output and gained recognition as the world’s wealthiest colony.
While Code Noir lost its enforcement power when France ended slavery in 1848, lawmakers never officially removed it from legal records.
Article 44 classified enslaved people as “movable property.”
Owners held the right to purchase, sell, use as collateral, or bequeath them to heirs — similar to real estate or household items.
Article 28 stated enslaved individuals could “own nothing that does not belong to their master.”
All wages earned and gifts received became the owner’s possession.
Enslaved people lacked legal identity.
Beginning in 1839, colonial authorities assigned each enslaved person a numerical identifier and registration code.
Freed individuals received surnames only after emancipation.
Article 38 established penalties for escape attempts.
First-time offenders faced ear removal and shoulder branding with a fleur-de-lis — the French royal emblem.
Second attempts resulted in severed leg tendons and additional branding.
Third attempts carried the death penalty.
Article 33 mandated execution for any enslaved person who struck an owner, spouse or children with sufficient force to cause visible injury or bleeding — or struck them in the face.
The provision declared such individuals “shall be punished by death.”
Before addressing enslaved people, the code’s opening article mandated the expulsion of all Jewish residents from French colonies within three months.
It labeled them “declared enemies of the Christian name.”
Articles 2 and 3 required baptism and Catholic upbringing for all enslaved people.
Public practice of other faiths was prohibited.
Children inherited their mother’s legal status.
Offspring of enslaved women were born into bondage — regardless of the father’s free status.
Enslavement began at birth.
Code Noir allocated children food portions equal to half an adult’s ration.
Several provisions appeared designed to “protect” enslaved individuals.
Owners were supposed to provide food and clothing, avoid torture, and refrain from separating husbands, wives and young children through sales.
Historians note these protections were routinely disregarded.
Owners who murdered enslaved people rarely faced punishment.
